I don’t know how he did it, but, if we pay heed to the Catholic directories of both the United States and Canada. convicted child molester Monsignor Martin Wain managed to serve the first seven years of his priesthood simultaneously in both the United States and Canada.
Bilocation?
Whatever the case, Wain has what I believe is the rather unique distinction of being listed in various issues of both The Official Catholic Directory (OCD) and the Canadian Catholic Directory and Ontario Catholic Yearbook (OCY) as serving in, on the one hand, a monastery in New Hampshire, and, on the other hand, in various capacities in the Diocese of Peterborough, Ontario.
Bizarre.
I started looking at and trying to sort this out several weeks ago when I was told that Monsignor Wain originally hailed from Boston,NH. The more I delved and questioned the more confusing and puzzling it became.
Here is what I understand to date:
(1) Martin Wain is listed in the 1982 OCD as serving in the New Hampshire Monastery, New Boston, New Hampshire. The monastery was also and more popularly known as Hundred Acres Monastery.
The 1982-83 OCY shows Rev. Martin A. Wain as Vice-Chancellor of the Peterborough Diocese and as Director of the Regional Marriage Tribunal. It is my understanding, as yet unconfirmed, that Wain was also functioning as a chaplain at St. Peter’s high School in Peterborough upon or shortly after his arrival in the diocese.
In other words, at the very least Wain was at the monastery in New Hampshire while serving as Vice-Chancellor and director of the tribunal in Peterborough, Ontario!
Aside questions of bilocation, what was a Peterborough priest doing at monastery in New Hampshire one short year after ordination? Had there been allegations of some sort of sexual impropriety?
(2) In the OCD to which I gained access, Martin Wain is listed in the 1985,’86, ’88, ’89 and ’90 directories with address at the New Hampshire Monastery, New Boston, NH and, under Retreat Houses in the Manchester Diocese, at the Monastery (Hundred Acres).
In Canadian and Ontario directories for the corresponding years to which I have access Father Martin Wain is listed with an address at the Diocesan Centre/Bishop’s palace or St. Paul’s RC Church in Lakefield, Ontario and is shown as either Vice-Chancellor or Chancellor of the Peterborough Diocese or at St. Paul’s in Lakefield, Ontario (Lakefield is about 20 miles from Peterborough)
(3) Martin Wain is an American. According to 1990 media reports Peterborough Bishop James Doyle said that Wain studied for the priesthood in New Hampshire , applied to serve in the Diocese of Peterborough, was ordained in Peterborough in 1981, and celebrated his first Mass in New Hampshire ‘where his family lives.’
(4) According to Father Joseph Devereaux, the Chancellor for the Peterborough Diocese, Wain was ordained to the diaconate 20 December 1980 at which time he was incardinated into the Diocese of Peterborough. Wain was ordained to the priesthood 05 June 1981 (for the Diocese of Peterborough, Ontario).
(5) According to Father Devereaux, as an American, Wain “began his vocational discernment at home.” I asked Father Devereaux which seminary or seminaries Devereaux attended in the States and/orCanada. No answer.
I also asked Father Devereaux if there had been any allegations of sexual impropriety of any kind against Wain prior to 1983. No answer.
It is unknown therefore where Wain pursued his studies for the priesthood. According to Diane Quinlan, Chancellor for the Diocese of Manchester, NH, Wain “did not commence ecclesiastical studies for the Diocese of Manchester,” nor does the diocese “ have a record of any allegations of sexual abuse of a minor against Fr. Wain.”
(6) At his sex abuse trial the court was told that “Wain had been ordained in Canada because he hadn’t qualified in the States.” ( 16 January 1990 Financial Settlement announced”)
Why did Wain not qualify in the States? What was the problem? Did a seminary recommend that Wain NOT be ordained? Were there issues of some manner of sexual impropriety while Wain was in seminary? Why would a bishop in the States not ordain Marin Wain? And, for what diocese did Wain originally intend to be ordained?
(7) I have been told by a reliable source that Wain was recruited for the Peterborough Diocese by Bishop James Doyle – at One Hundred Acre Monastery! Doyle is said to have made trips to the monastery from time to time, both before and after Wain’s ordination to the priesthood.
(8) According to the 1982 OCD the three priests serving at the monastery at that time were Fathers Paul Fitzgerald (a Trappist), Martin Wain, and C. Richard Ginder.
Father Ginder, a priest from Pittsburgh was a self-professed homosexual and convicted child molester who only four years earlier had been convicted for sodomizing two 16-year-0ld boys. He had previously been convicted (1969) for possession of pictures of himself engaging in sex acts with adolescent boys. While Ginder was serving at the monastery the Pittsburgh diocese had him listed as “Absent on Sick Leave.”
Ginder died in a car accident in 1984. (I don’t have access to a 1983 OCD so don’t know if Ginder was listed at the monastery for that year as well)
Father Fitzgerald was at the monastery from its founding in 1966 until his death in May 1991. He is buried on the grounds. (some sources indicate the monastery was founded in 1964)
More on Father Fitzgerald after I check with a few contacts.
Following Fitzgerald’s death the One Hundred Acres monastery changed hands. I did a quick check and believe that Monisgnor Wain’s affinity to the monastery ceased after Fitzgerald’s death.
Hundred Acres Monastery is now known as Epiphany Monastery: it is run by Camaldolese monks who are a contemplative branch of the Order of Saint Benedict. Because the monastery has changed hands it is difficult to get information on the goings on at the site during the years Monsignor Martin Wain had his quarters there